The Fourth Lady novel Chapter 87

After having breakfast, Qingyan took Zizhu alone with her to head to Julong Zhai. However, at first, when the people of Julong Zhai saw her, there was a bit of difficulties. But once she took out the command plaque, she was immediately escorted by the shopkeeper to the private room where Murong Jingxuan frequented.

And when she thought of the earlier troubles, she didn't know how the situation would play out in Murong Jingxuan's eyes.

When Murong Jingxuan saw Qingyan, he just happened to be drinking tea, and sitting next to him was precisely Xiu Ran, who she met at the talent conference.

"Next time, you don't need to appear here anymore." Murong Jingxuan looked to the shopkeeper and coldly raised his voice. Just when the shopkeeper wanted to explain, Murong Jingxuan still coldly retorted, "Get lost."

The shopkeeper wouldn't dare to go against Murong Jingxuan. Furthermore, if he had known Su Qingyan was Murong Jingxuan's person, he would have never let something like that happen.

"Yan'er, this is Xiu Ran, you've met before." Murong Jingxuan looked to Qingyan with a smile, "He's Nanchen's political hostage. Regarding matters of Nanchen, he also knows about to some extent."

Qingyan looked to Xiu Ran with a smile and nodded, "Hello, I'm Su Qingyan."

When Xiu Ran saw Qingyan, he still immediately matched her image with Qilian Qingyan, but he knew that the girl before him wasn't Qilian Qingyan.

"Didn't you say you wanted to know about the Ning family secrets?" Qingyan looked to Xiu Ran smiling.

Murong Jingxuan naturally understood what Qingyan meant by this. This meant she simply didn't trust Xiu Ran's character. Seeing Qingyan slightly frowning, Jingxuan reluctantly spoke, "Yan'er, Xiu Ran is on my side, you don't need to worry."

Qingyan smiled and looked to Xiu Ran. Even if he was someone who she once saved, at the moment, her eyes were full of detachment. She didn't believe in anyone.

She didn't believe in anyone other than Murong Jingxuan, particularly the mysterious and unpredictable Xiu Ran. Xiu Ran wasn't as simple as he looked on the surface. Back then, when she'd saved him, Yaochi also once commented this to her. But in the end, regarding Xiu Ran's background, she had yet to find anything.

Xiu Ran's character, she couldn't be more understanding of, but as the reborn Qilian Qingyan, she still was unwilling to trust anyone.

"Murong Jingxuan, that's your problem. If you don't want to know about the Ning family secrets, I'll just leave right now." Qingyan didn't look to see Xiu Ran's expression; she directly stood up to leave.

Before Murong Jingxuan could even say a word, Qingyan had already disappeared before his eyes.

He understood in his mind that Qingyan's behavior today was a bit unusual. But just exactly where, he couldn't quite put the words to it. Qingyan didn't trust Xiu Ran, that was definitely reasonable, but why did she display it so obviously today?

There were too many people by Murong Jingxuan's side. Even someone like Fengqing, she was willing to trust, yet why was she unwilling to trust Xiu Ran? Regarding information about Xiu Ran, it's not like he didn't investigate before. But what he found out were all things that were worthy of trust. Qingyan's behavior was clearly showing that she didn't trust Xiu Ran.

But just where did it go wrong?

"Jingxuan, that girl seems to not trust me." Xiu Ran looked to Murong Jingxuan with a calm look, "I really shouldn't have come."

Murong Jingxuan looked to him and helplessly waved his hand, "That girl doesn't just believe in anyone." He could only use this method to help Qingyan absolve the situation, but he also couldn't think of a reason why Qingyan did that.

"Jingxuan, when the time comes, I'll have to trouble you to apologize for me." Xiu Ran looked to Murong Jingxuan still with a calm smile.

Murong Jingxuan gave him a reluctant look and could only nodded. This kind of thing wasn't easy for him to step in to help Xiu Ran apologize.

After sending off Xiu Ran, Murong Jingxuan sat in his seat and tapped the table with rhythm. In a slightly clear cold tone, he sounded his voice, "Fengshuang, find someone to follow Xiu Ran. There must be a reason why Yan'er doesn't trust Xiu Ran."

From the air came Fengshuang's solemn voice.

Xiu Ran was Nanchen Wuan Marquis's son. He was also sent to Donghe under Qilian Qingyan's arrangements. But why would Qingyan not trust him at this time. What special reason was there for her to not trust him this much.

Xiu Ran returned to a yard, and that yard was surrounded by men in black. Even if someone as skilled as Fengshuang could eavesdrop, but to be able to eavesdrop so openly in the daytime, it wasn't something that was possible. However, these men in black didn't seem like people from the Seven Star Hall, nor did they seem like Thousand Beast Pavilion's men. Rather, they seems more like specially trained, death soldiers*.

(*TN: Historically, these men were trained and used for suicide attacks, regardless of success or failure, rarely do they return alive.)

Yet, Xiu Ran never raised these kinds of death soldiers before. Unless, just as Murong Jingxuan thought, Xiu Ran wasn't as simple as he'd imagined.

For the time being, Fengshuang could only report back to Murong Jingxuan his findings. When Murong Jingxuan heard this news, he also slightly frowned. He told Fengshuang to scout out the place again at night.

"Fengshuang, you can deal with this matter as you see fit. I'll go check on Yan'er." With that said, he disappeared before him.

Fengshuang didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. However, seldomly did their Shizi have someone he liked, moreover that kind of girl, only their Shizi was a worthy match for.

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When Qingyan returned to Yingshuang yard, she was still thinking about the matter from last night. That man's voice from last night was really too much like Xiu Ran's, and just what relations did Xiu Ran have with the Ning family. Could it be that Wuan Marquis also has something to do with the Ning family? That's why Xiu Ran came to Donghe as the political hostage?

After Qingyan got back to her room, she took out a small booklet from a cupboard. The things written in this booklet were all the information obtained by the Thousand Beast Pavilion that year. Although some of the information were already expired, some insider information of past events weren't things that could be easily covered up.

Qingyan flipped through the records in the booklet, but only with information regarding Xiu Ran, she knew very little of. However, at that time, Xiu Ran seemed to have volunteered to go to Donghe to become the political hostage. Unless, Xiu Ran was Qilian Qingyi's person from the start.

Then everything was starting to make sense, but more importantly, when did Qilian Qingyi and Xiu Ran get together? Or rather, what made Xiu Ran willing to do such?

Just when Qingyan was contemplating, Murong Jingxuan's voice sounded next to her, "Yan'er, what are you thinking about?"

When she looked up, she saw Murong Jingxuan sitting on the window ledge, holding a blade of grass in his mouth. Before Qingyan could say anything, his voice sounded a second time, "You don't trust Xiu Ran, that's why you acted like that today. But even now, I still don't understand why you don't trust Xiu Ran. From the start, weren't you the one that arranged for Xiu Ran to be sent to Donghe?"